


An Idol's Limits

by actuallymarie



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Emotional Breakthrough, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Meltdowns, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Asperger's, Implied Sensory Overload, Implied Social Anxiety, implied depression, it's too late for marie to think and she must screm, just a vent/comfort fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2019-01-01 02:42:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12146892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actuallymarie/pseuds/actuallymarie
Summary: Callie checks on Marie to see if she's doing alright. She isn't.





	An Idol's Limits

**Author's Note:**

> haha don't worry there'll be more smut to come, i just had a pretty bad sensory meltdown in public when i wrote this and i wanted to write something that would comfort me. don't expect it to be super amazing because i was a blubbering mess when i typed it, but if you find comfort in it too then im happy i can help i guess idk ANYWAYS HERES THE FIC

     Callie couldn't sleep. She couldn't figure out why for the life of her. Usually she was out like a light at this hour, but instead the blankets felt colder and rougher against her skin than usual. Gee, what a dilemma, what was the root of all this?

     Maybe it was the fact that Marie's room still had a light on.

     Her mouth stretched and pursed tensely in growing concern, trying to sleep the worries away but some force restricting her from doing so. Marie was... Not quite as stable and confident as she was in her on-stage persona, which tended to be why she always forgot to show off a stunning smile to the crowd at all times. Then again, no one could be that strong; even the most elite of S-ranks needed help with something.

     She watched the time go by.

     The light that cracked from her door ceased to dim.

      Something snapped, and Callie's desire to rest had dissolved into nothingness once she hopped out of bed, got a glass of water from out of her faucets (getting a drink to clear the mind always helped) and made her way towards her idol's room. Her bare knuckles gave the door a few gentle knocks and heard a little hum in reply from inside. Yeah, that wasn't a good sign. Callie slowly opened the door and peeked her head in. "Marie...?"

     She sat in her bed, hugging her knees and holding a deep-blue, mechanical pencil with gentle ridges which she stroked her digits along for some sense of comfort as she had a dead, glazed stare at the half-done paperwork she had tried to fill out. Her eyes and nose were red and puffy, though she made an attempt to hide her face out of common decency and awkwardly cleaned at the smudges of mascara and eyeliner that got everywhere but her eyes. Humiliation washed over her from looking so stupid and weak in front of her sister, someone she looked up to despite never confessing it. Nonetheless, Callie kept a caring expression on her face, approaching but still giving her space. "What's wrong?"

     "No--Nothi-ng-" Marie tried to reply, but her words caught against her own overwhelming emotions and ended up sounding wobbled and congested. Her eyes stared away from the singer, knowing that if she forced herself, she'd just break down again.

     "It doesn't sound like nothing. Did you take your meds?" Callie asked, referring to those huge, mahogany-colored capsules Marie somehow managed to swallow down. Then again, who was she to judge? Her own throat couldn't even stand anything bigger than a pea.

     "Mm," This was her way of saying yes, but it was less clear and truthful than the real deal. Callie squinted, looking through her lie quite easily.

     "Marie?"

     "...No," the usual diva mumbled, resting her chin on her knee.

     "Why not?"

     Marie shrugged, having a ton of excuses, but it was nothing Callie heard before. Besides, she was already trying so hard not to cry, even though tears and snot were already threatening to dribble down her messy face.

     "Hmmm..." Her more uppity sister for lost in thought for quite a while, giving the both of them a break from talking before making a suggestion, "I know it's been a while, but do you wanna start talking to the psychologist again?"

     Marie tried to speak, but the physical evidence of her dejection was already leaking from the corners of her eyes. She rubbed them away as nonchalantly as she could, but anyone could see that she was crying. Callie's heart twinged in sympathy as her friend put a hand to her mouth, something she did when she was at her breaking point. She finally sat down with her and held her free hand which trembled.

     "It's okay, you don't have to tell me face-to-face, just take a break from all that crap and focus on sleep, okay? That's more important..."

     Marie, instead of nodding and keeping everything in like she usually did, finally exploded.

     "No!" the dancer started, keeping her head away but still talking to her. There was still a heavy fear of showing her face, like it was a sign of instability, that she'd be judged from current appearance alone. "I can't-I wanna be..." Her face was red as she wildly searched for words, no longer wanting to care about how she sounded or if she sobbed in the middle of her vent despite the burning shame in her chest. She wanted this out. "I just wanna be good at something for once... Ah-and-I wanna actually  _want_  to do somethi-ng again, and, to... Instead of forcing... Mm.. Mgh..."

     Callie hugged her tightly, not knowing what else to do. She didn't know exactly what her sister wanted in this time, but to be fair, Marie didn't know either. Still, she was sure as hell gonna try. "It's okay...!"

     "No it's nah-hhh-" The last string that pulled herself together was broken, making her do nothing else but cry as she hugged her cousin back. They weren't little whimpers, either, they were great, helpless wails that kept her low, usually melodious voice cracking and breaking like no tomorrow. Her face was buried in her sister's shoulder, not wanting to get into her tentacles as mucus and tears weren't too fun to be soaked with.

     Callie kept silent, but still kept her arms wrapped around her and gave her as much deep pressure therapy as she wanted; head pats could wait.

\--

     Eventually, the tears stopped, though they continued to cuddle for good measure before the Squid Sister took her leave after confirmation that Marie would be okay for the rest of the night.

     The one that kept a cool, calm character despite how exhausting it was, opened her buzzing phone after a few more minutes of being alone with her thoughts to see an entire wall of text sent by Callie, all mushy with love, compliments and reassurance. She could barely even finish reading it before soft, happy sobs escaped from her lungs. Marie's eyes shimmered, giving her idol the simplest of replies and getting some well-deserved rest.

(    ♥    )>


End file.
